Okay here we go:

Paul Ford’s mammoth “What is Code?”

Stacia L. Brown’s “For Tamir, Who Was Stolen.”

“Fear” by novelist and teacher and theologian Marilynne Robinson, published this summer in the New York Review of Books, about our Christian nation and gun violence.

The NYRB also published a rather random two-part conversation between Robinson and President Obama that was released both in writing and audio (I recommend listening to it).

I have thought about these conversations for many months, unsure how I felt about them. They reminded me that Obama is a smart man, and a curious one. A man who reads books. Remembering this made me a little sad, honestly. Perhaps wistful for a time when Obama was just an exciting idea and not a man responsible for, say, a horrific drone war.

Their interview is a little awkward. It’s not always clear who’s driving or what the goal is. His admiration for her is very clear, though, and genuine, and there are some great moments. And it’s fascinating to watch these two titanic minds interact. The second part is better than the first and the moment where he explains to her what Hamilton is was pretty rad.

She remains, I think, one of the wisest people I’ve ever encountered, both on the page, and in real life.

Read her books, if you haven’t already. If you think you’ll only read one, make it Gilead I think.

Here’s Charlie Warzel and John Hermann’s tweet guide for brands. Here’s a useful flowchart called “Should I Write for Free?” Here are some creative writing prompts from Rookie. Here’s a guide for avoiding bias when writing about gender. Here’s a manifesto by This American Life producer Stephanie Foo about what to do if your workplace is too white. It contains an excellent mic drop:

(Listen to this fantastic piece Stephanie did earlier this year.)

I found Buljušmić-Kustura Arnesa’s story about coming to the US as a Bosnian refugee to be very powerful:

It goes on from there; you can read the whole thing at Vox.

Here was a very good essay Molly Crabapple published after the Paris terrorist attacks.

I cannot wait to read her book, Drawing Blood, which has just come out.

Read this really honest essay that Jeff Sharlet published about being in Paris during those attacks.

Follow Jeff on Instagram. He’s doing interesting stuff.

Here’s Reza Aslan saying some smart, real shit about what we talk about when we talk about all “Muslim countries”:

“Historians Politely Remind Nation To Check What’s Happened In Past Before Making Any Big Decisions.”

I’ve found myself thinking a lot about photographer Hannah Price’s “City of Brotherly Love” series in which she takes pictures of the men who’ve just catcalled her:

Being catcalled is fucking awful.

Here’s Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell done in Legos.

Here’s a profile of a ex-cop who’s keeping the best data on police misconduct.

“The Hard Truth about Cops Who Lie.”

“How to Travel While Black during Jim Crow.”

“Nazi-Era Snapshots and the Banality of Evil.”

Read this impassioned and deeply personal essay by criminal justice reporter Shaun King, written in response to a vile conservative effort to expose secrets about his past.

This five-part Guardian series about Kern County, California, home to America’s deadliest police, has been excellent. Note in particular the one about sexual violence and corrupt police.

I’m so fucking happy about the Holtzclaw verdict.

Read Ayesha Siddiqi’s “Does America Deserve Malala?”

Here’s a lil piece about Chicago’s first LGBT retirement center.

I like this blog post, by reporter-I-admire-to-no-end Jina Moore, called “From the Department of Gentle Suggestions.”

Read Slate’s Eric Holthaus on how Exxon and the Koch brothers have been funding climate change denial for decades. (Thanks guys!!!)

Exxon’s also going after journalists who are writing about it.

Speaking of the fact that corporations literally do not care if you die: Shootings are great for the gun business.

When gun violence meets ideology.

What the fuck kind of person would be a Sandy Hook ‘truther’.

How conservative-led Australia ended mass killings.

Read Eula Biss’ essay “White Debt.”

I really loved her first book.

Here’s a photo series of girls from around the world ages 8–13, wearing what they want, posing how they want.

NASA released the highest-resolution photos yet of pluto:

Read Doreen St. Félix on how corporations profit from black teens’ viral content.

She once composed the greatest tweet:

If media interests you, Read John Hermann’s “Access Denied.” John is a very good writer and good selector of GIFs.

Read Bijan Stephen’s profile of Killer Mike.

I know I already linked this but you really do have to watch Killer Mike’s introduction of Bernie Sanders from the other week in Atlanta:

Here are masks soldiers have made representing their PTSD:

War is bad.

Watch this:

Here’s an Amy Davidson story about how Donald Trump is a racist who uses his money to be heard about it: “Donald Trump and the Central Park Five.”

Anti-Muslim bigotry is soaring.

See how many people have been killed by gun violence in your neighborhood this year.

Read Tressie McMillan Cottom’s “The Great Mismatch.”

Read Jasmine Riad’s “Please correct: Editing My Mother’s English.”

Unless you are someone who chooses to not read about rape, I recommend you read “‘Get Home Safe,’ My Rapist Said” by Allison Wood.

I think Americans have a responsibility to read and to encourage others to read Ta Nehisi-Coates. He reminds me of Emerson. And by that I mean, he’s an American man of letters who’s figured out how to talk to lots of people and is. He’s doing it. He’s really doing it. I’ve loved all three of his Longform interviews, and very much recommend the latest one.

You need to read “The Case for Reparations” and you need to read “The Black Family in the Age of Incarceration.” And you need to read Between the World and Me.

It’s hard to talk to lots of people, especially if you are both smart and informed. It’s harder to maintain yourself and your integrity in the face of great opposition and scrutiny and ignorance and bigotry. (It’s especially hard when your opponent is something as fundamental and pernicious as American racism.)

It’s hard to report about difficult things. It’s hard to have the dedication and institutional backing it takes to expose real trauma that has been suppressed by powerful forces (by powerful men). You should see Spotlight, if only to try to understand the work that goes into the exposure of such things.

It’s hard to accuse your rapist.

It’s hard to notice the ways you are advantaged.

It’s hard to understand the ways in which you were wrong, however you saw the world before.

It’s hard, some days, to get out of bed. Or to turn to Twitter, to keep reading. To keep wanting to find out.

And yet.

I dunno. I show up because I’m interested in learning about things.

Maybe it’s that we live in an era with a lot of Emersons. Like everyone I’ve mentioned already in this post is an Emerson. Lin-Manuel Miranda. Claudia Rankine. Kendrick Lamar. Clint Smith, who said: “I will live every day as if there were a microphone tucked under my tongue.”

There was this moment from a Vince Staples interview back in July that I keep thinking about:

“I fuck with the Stardust though.” is maybe the best sentence.